Plan Ahead!!

Paying for College
1

<p>Every year about this time, I start a thread about meeting deadlines. HOWEVER after reading a number of other posts recently...I've decided to change my annual thread a little bit....and call it PLAN AHEAD.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Find ALL deadlines for both admissions and financial aid for each college. They are NOT the same from school to school. DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES...for anything. In fact...plan ahead...submit a week early. That way you won't get into any server crash or computer issues that can happen and it will be DONE ON TIME.</p></li>
<li><p>Talk to your family about finances. If your family has financial criteria, you will need to work within that criteria when you matriculate. Sure...apply to some financial stretches...but be aware that if the finances don't work out...those schools will likely be off the table.</p></li>
<li><p>PLAN AHEAD...you will get your financial aid packages shortly after your acceptance arrives. If the money is NOT sufficient, don't just assume that it will suddenly materialize out of no where. It won't. This year, in particular, there have been a number of threads started in AUGUST because students are short the money for the upcoming school year.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>BEFORE you say yes to an admissions offer and the financial aid for a particular school...BE CERTAIN you will be able to pay any balances not covered by your financial aid. If you don't have a plan for that money...make a choice for a school where you CAN pay the bills. If you don't end up "finding" that extra money, you won't be able to attend that school. The bills have to be paid.</p>

<p>SO....MEET ALL DEADLINES. PLAN AHEAD...</p>

2

<p>Wonderful advice, as always, from thumper1. If I could add one additional piece - I suggest a spreadsheet with the requirements for FA at each school. Some are very easy and need just the FAFSA. Some need the FAFSA plus the CSS Profile. Some use IDOC as a method to receive tax returns. Some want you to mail the tax returns to them directly. Some have their own institutional form for you to complete and mail in as well. </p>

<p>I generally recommend printing out the page with the requirements for each school - and then also have the spreadsheet with the items and due dates - and mark each item off as it is submitted. I also like to email each school’s FA office in March to verify that they have received all needed items for FA. This is one area where being thorough and organized is imperative.</p>

3

<p>It would be great to have suggestions added to help students and families PLAN AHEAD.</p>

<p>A couple I forgot</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Make sure you have all of your income/tax information handy. You may need it to make estimates for an early priority filing of the Profile or school form if your child is applying for finaid as an EA/ED applicant.</p></li>
<li><p>Make an appointment with your accountant NOW for the year your child will be a freshman in college. OR have all of the info handy so that you can file your taxes ASAP after Feb 1 when you should have all of your tax info from employers.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are self employed…keep excellent records so you can file your taxes as EARLY as possible after Feb 1.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>The year your child will be a freshman is NOT the year to wait until April 15, or apply for extensions to file your taxes. Any financial aid award you get based on ESTIMATES will be an estimated award. Many schools will not disburse your financial aid UNTIL you have filed your taxes and updated your finaid application materials to reflect the tax return. AND they have deadlines for that too.</p>

<p>You want to make sure your finances are all set BEFORE your child makes a matriculation decision by May 1.</p>

4

<p>Thanks, very useful advice. </p>

<p>Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using CC App</p>

5

<p>Thumper is right!</p>

<p>Many of us “old folks” are old enough to remember the old Sears Toy Christmas Catalog that many of us would use when we were little kids to make our Christmas lists for Santa. Some of us were not the least bit conscious of the “cost of toys” because we thought Santa was bringing the toys and therefore why be concerned about cost. </p>

<p>Creating a school list should not be like that, yet that’s what we see here from time to time…kids not wanting to even consider cost or affordability. Hello!..Santa ain’t paying your tuition bills.</p>

<p>While it’s fine to have a few financial or academic reaches on your school lists, all/most of your schools should not be that way. </p>

<p>Get a clarified budget from your parents about how much they’ll spend. If they’re wishy-washy/vague about it…or…if they just say, “apply to several and then we’ll see what happens,” then treat those words as a big red flag and make sure that you have a least a 2-3 financial safety schools on your list.</p>

<p>Talk to both parents about finances to make sure both are on the same page. If parents are divorced, that can open another set of problems because some schools will require the financial info from both families and new spouses.</p>

<p>Your stats and your financial situation will largely influence where you should apply. There’s no escaping that fact. </p>

<p>Definition of a Financial Safety…

  1. A school that you like, has your major, and has a variety of majors that interest you.
  2. A school that your very, very likely to get accepted to.
  3. A school that you know for SURE that you have all costs covered by ASSURED/GUARANTEED grants/scholarships, small federal student loans, and/or family funds (that you know exist).</p>

<p>Students can only borrow the following on their own with Stafford/Direct student loans…</p>

<p>5500 frosh
6500 soph
7500 jr
7500 sr</p>

<p>To borrow more than that requires co-signers. Many parents won’t co-sign or won’t qualify to co-sign. Borrowing more than the above amounts is dangerous anyway.</p>

<p>Any student who does not have assured funds to pay for all college costs should have 2-3 financial safety schools. One financial safety is not enough. </p>

<p>If you only have one financial safety and you later decide that you don’t like it (which kids do), you won’t have a safety in the Spring. </p>

<p>Also, by having 2-3 financial safeties, if your other schools do not work out acceptance-wise or money-wise, then you’ll still feel like you have a choice to make in the Spring. Otherwise, you’ll feel railroaded into your one lone safety. :frowning: </p>

<p>I recall one such student sadly lamenting being “forced” to go to her one lone safety which she begrudgingly called “the booby prize.” If she had had a choice amongst 2-3 financial safeties, she would have felt more empowered. </p>

<p>Choice is good for morale. Everyone likes to feel that they still have a choice. :)</p>

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<p>Choice can also come in handy if you have more than 1 financial aid package to compare with. With a better offer from a peer institution sometimes there is “some” wiggle room. </p>

<p>Do not use the term “negotiate”. Ask for a re-evaluation based on a change of circumstances, ie., a more competitive offer from school B but you would really like to attend school A…but be prepared for the no thank you…feel free to attend other school answer.</p>

<p>The more choices the better.</p>

<p>Kat
also sometimes more money can be added in later years depending on the school and student. Some departments within your major have money to distribute from soph-senior years, as do the FA depts themselves. Both D and S had this happen after they maticulated, it was a nice bonus but not one they counted on nor used in their decision making process.
Happened to son in undergrad and again a few weeks ago after he committed to a specific med school. Scholarship doubled from initial offer to the last.</p>

7

<p>Re: your “safety schools”…one additional criteria…you MUST want to attend there. There is no point in applying to ANY schools that you do not plan to attend.</p>

8

<p>this is such good advice, I wish all HS guidance counselors would include this sort of info in their college-night talks.</p>

9

<p>And…If you and your family do determine that you will be expected to pay more than you can afford…or you wish to spend less because you have professional school in your future (med, law, grad, etc), then look for a few schools that will give you large merit for your stats. That means finding schools that do give large merit and will likely or assuredly give you merit for your stats because your stats are well within the upper quartile for the school. </p>

<p>Some schools give assured merit scholarships for stats…if you have the required stats (often listed on the school’s website) and you apply on time, then you get the scholarship. </p>

<p>Some schools have competitive scholarships. Schools look over a pool of qualified candidates and hand-select a number to receive their scholarships…sometimes subjective things can come into play…such as choosing a student because he/she adds to regional diversity (coming from a state that has few applicants) or ethnic diversity.</p>

<p>Keep in mind…</p>

<p>There’s a large pool of kids with high GPAs (over 3.75)</p>

<p>There’s a smaller pool of kids with high test scores.</p>

<p>There’s even a smaller pool of kids with high test scores and high GPAs. <== These are typically the kids who get the large merit scholarships at the schools that give them. (again, scores should be well within the top quartile of the school…perhaps even in the top 5-10% of the school.)</p>

<p>*Re: your “safety schools”…one additional criteria…you MUST want to attend there. There is no point in applying to ANY schools that you do not plan to attend. *</p>

<p>Absolutely…I did write that you must like your financial safeties, but as Thumper emphasizes, you must be fine with the idea of attending them if necessary. </p>

<p>Definition of a Financial Safety…

  1. A school that you like, has your major, and has a variety of majors that interest you.
  2. A school that you’re very, very likely to get accepted to.
  3. A school that you know for SURE that you have all costs covered by ASSURED/GUARANTEED grants/scholarships, small federal student loans, and/or family funds (that you know exist).</p>

<p>(I corrected my “you’re”…agghhh!!! I hate when I do that!!!)</p>

10

<p>This thread should be a sticky. There’s a lot of good information here but it won’t be long before it gets buried under newer threads. I hope the mods will consider pinning it to the top of the FA forum.</p>

11

<p>From my experience:</p>

<p>1) Apply for your FAFSA pin in advance of filling out the FAFSA form.
2) CSS/Profile online applications can be very slow around widely used due date, such as February 1. Hopefully they have added more server power, but don’t count on it.
3) The only place to send IDOC forms is a post office box in a cornfield in Southern Illinois. No FedEx, no UPS, and no overnight delivery from most zip codes. Be sure to mail your IDOC forms a week in advance.
4) Try your project fin aid and expenses for all 4 years. This is especially important if multiple siblings will be in college at some point.
5) Parents: determine what tax credits you are eligible for. The American Opportunity Tax Credit can be worth up to $2500. (caveat: It is only authorized through 2012, but congress can extend it–again.)
6) Understand whether you will need to buy health insurance. Even if you have insurance it may not meet the school’s requirements. This can add an unexpected $1000-$2000 to cost of attendance, and you may not find out about it until after you have committed.</p>

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<p>Yes, it needs a sticky.
More thoughts:

  1. Consider applying early action (not decision) if available to your safeties and as many other schools as you can. It gets the ball rolling for procrastinators, spreads the essays out, and relieves pressure if you get positive results.</p>

<p>2) Ask for those rec. letters early. Yes, like a month before they are due.</p>

<p>3) Get your assets in order. Thumper says to see your accountant, but I don’t have one. Student UGMA accounts should be converted to 529’s, they are assessed differently for FAFSA. If you can legally move up or postpone income out of that first tax year it might help. (I’m trying to see the silver lining behind the state cutting my salary) Probably others, but that’s what the accountant is for.</p>

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<p>This! Have a serious, very honest conversation with your child about how much you can realistically afford every semester for the next four years. Keep in mind emergency situations that can happen like an economic recession, job loss, divorce, etc. If you know your finances aren’t stable enough to give a lot for tuition then that’s okay, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. But you should be honest because otherwise your child might assume you’re going to be able to do this every time the tuition bill is due.</p>

<p>Also, do your research on starting salaries for your career choices. Financial aid does not always=free money, and it’s a lot easier to agree to take out that $15K or whatever in loans every year than it is to pay it back. Debt is a very real thing, and you don’t want to be one of these students we read about who suddenly woke up to find themselves in $100K of debt. </p>

<p>There’s no prize for having the most debt.</p>

14

<p>One more thing, and this may be construed as anathema to CC high-flyers: Don’t discount the possibility, if push comes to shove, of having your child attend a community college as part of a plan to transfer to a university after two years. </p>

<p>I think this path–at least in my neck of the woods–is becoming fairly popular for some pretty bright kids, mostly from a financial standpoint. Fortunately, we have a great CC in northern IL (College of Lake County) where a high percentage of credits transfer & is very affordable as well.</p>

<p>And I’ll be honest–this path sometimes is preferable for the smart & talented yet rudderless 18-year-old who doesn’t quite know yet what to do yet, instead of the parents shipping the kid off to a higher-cost generic State U to try & find their way on a very expensive dime.</p>

15

<p>*One more thing, and this may be construed as anathema to CC high-flyers: Don’t discount the possibility, if push comes to shove, of having your child attend a community college as part of a plan to transfer to a university after two years.
*</p>

<p>Absolutely.</p>

<p>But this can backfire for some high stats or low income kids who will only get the best FA or merit scholarships as incoming frosh at 4 year schools.</p>

<p>My friend had her kids start at CCs because she thought it would be cheaper for them. When they went to transfer, they got no merit and lousy FA. In the end, it would have been better if they had started at a 4 year…however, this really only applies to kids who have the options to go to full need schools or get large merit scholarships.</p>